Makita Phillips, NSBE’s National Leadership Institute chair for 2013–14, looks for ways to keep things cool in a hot area of STEM research. A mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate at North Carolina State University, she works with a multidisciplinary team, in the Materials Science and Engineering department, to detect and avoid “quench behavior” in superconductors.

The field of nuclear engineering in the U.S. had 19,100 jobs in 2010 and was projected to see an “average” growth of 10 percent in that number by 2020, this according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. For those with the skills and good fortune to land one of those jobs, the financial landscape is rosy: the median pay for nuclear engineers three years ago was a hefty $99,920 per year.

Years before they entered the same Ivy League university, joined NSBE and embarked on engineering paths, Brittney Exline and Kevin Holmes were bright, young prodigies.

During his current Fulbright tenure at the University of Birmingham, in England, Johnson is focused on developing a robot tutor for young students.

Kayla Mackey, 11, is a member of the Bridgeport/Access NSBE Jr. Chapter in Bridgeport, Ct.

Electrical engineering and math major Brandon Baker (third row, third from left) with other members of NSBE Fort Valley State University’s 2013–14 Chapter Executive Board. Baker is the starting center on Fort Valley State’s football team.

The age-old saying, “Mighty oaks from small acorns grow,” can aptly describe these three NSBE members. They have transformed themselves from NSBE Jr. members-at-large to leaders of one of the world’s best student-governed organizations.

Dr. Njema Frazier at NBC 4 in New York City this past summer, to discuss NSBE’s Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) Academy in Brooklyn

NSBE family, meet three of our best! The new NSBE Bridge Honor Roll recognizes the outstanding achievements of middle school and high school members of NSBE’s Academic Pyramid of Excellence (APEX). APEX students have verified grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher (http://www.nsbe.org/Programs/NSBE-Programs/APEx.aspx#AcademicPyramidofExcellenceWallofFame). Each issue of the magazine will spotlight several of our NSBE Jr. APEX honorees, to promote Academic Excellence.

Thanks to all of the NSBE Jr. members who submitted their animated stories for the 2013 NSBE Bridge 3-D Computer Programming Contest. In this, our second contest, it was exciting to see the creativity of our pre-college students in action once again. Choosing a winner wasn’t easy!